In the latest episode of our regular podcast, Nashville songstress Tristen talks to the Tennessean’s Kevin Walters about her upcoming album, “CAVES,” which is more than a bit of a departure from her last album, “Charlatans at the Garden Gate.”

Tristen (photo: Kevin Walters)

For starters, it’s driven by synthesizers and drum machines, and veers away from the ‘60s-inspired rock and California country of “Charlatans.” This month, Tristen successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign for “CAVES,” which she plans to release and own herself. Listen to album track "No One's Gonna Know" here.

Over coffee in East Nashville, she discussed her musical departure, the backlash she’s anticipating from fans, and why she’s not sitting in her horse and buggy and crying.

Local contemporary Christian voice/Caedmon's Call-er Andrew Osenga has joined the crowded ranks of musicians seeking funds via Kickstarter, but what he's looking to fund isn't exactly your standard hunk of songs. He'll be making a record, yes, but he aims to make it... in space.

"My next solo record is going to tell the story of a man named Leonard Belle," Osenga writes on his Kickstarter page. "He lives 300 years from now and loses his wife in a sudden accident while their divorce is being finalized. In his rage and grief he takes a gig driving a long-distance space freighter for a year. (Due to relativity, by the time he returns to Earth everyone he knows will be old or dead.) He decides to bring along some antique instruments and recording equipment (just like the stuff I have!) and will make a record.

"I'm going to build the interior of a spaceship, like the set of a play or a movie, and record the album in there. In uniform. I think it will be crazy fun, inspiring and will allow me to really get into the character and the idea and give it everything I have. Plus, if I don't do it, I'll end up 75 years old muttering, 'Dang it. I never built that spaceship.'"

The singer-songwriter has set his Kickstarter goal at $15,000, and fundraising is already under way. Fans can choose between a mix of gifts at different donation levels, from the mundane (CDs, early downloads) to the more interesting (a signed hunk of the "spaceship," a one-on-one "songwriting day" with the spaceman). If you'd like to offer a more tactile contribution, Osenga says he also plans to throw a "bring a hammer, build a spaceship" weekend in September, which'll give supporters the chance to help build the celestial studio, eat a few meals with the songwriter and catch a private Osenga concert.